News article

21 December 2018

“FDF member companies are fully engaged with the Government's various
reformulation
programmes. They provide flexibility for manufacturers to decide how best to
reduce sugar and
calorie consumption amongst children. This is something manufacturers have been
doing for over a
decade.

“Over five years FDF member companies have reduced calorie content in the
average
basket by 5.5%, and sugar content by 12.1%. PHE have themselves said that the
industry has made
good progress in reducing the amount of sugar in products. Our salt reduction
efforts have been
described as 'world-leading'.

“However, we also recognise that there is more work to be done. PHE's sugar and
calorie
reduction programmes are only in their early stages. As PHE have themselves
pointed out,
reformulation takes time – it can't happen overnight. It comes with
considerable
technical challenges.
For example sugar plays a variety of roles beyond sweetness in food including
colour, texture and
consistency. It is for these reasons that we have long said that the guidelines
are ambitious and will
not be met across all categories or in the timescale outlined.

“There is no evidence that additional food taxes can change consumer behaviours
over the
long-term. McKinsey, in its comprehensive review of policy tools aimed at
tackling obesity, ranked tax
thirteenth in effectiveness out of sixteen interventions, while portion control
and product reformulation
were ranked one and two.

“Food and drink companies should focus efforts where they can have the maximum
impact,
instead of managing the impact of wrong-headed legislation.”